Wednesday, July 30, 2008

And our walk continues from the Shin Marunouchi Building to the Wadakura Fountain Park and the Imperial Palace. It was still hot and humid and I thought the fountain would make us cooler - it didn't. But enjoy these pictures and short video clip.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

After our friend's wedding, Jun stayed with us for one more evening. He was catching the noon train back to Aomori. We saw Jun off at Tokyo station and decided to walk around the station, as it was too hot and humid to go on one of our regular walks. The Shin Maru Building is located close to the station so we thought we do a little window shopping and walk around there as well.

But before I share my walk with you, here is a picture of the Hayate Super Express for any of you train buffs out there and a picture of me and Mikako with Jun.

散歩の話の前に、電車オタクがいれば、下記の写真は八戸行きはやて新幹線です。あとは潤君との写真です。

Jun's train to Hachinohe and back to Aomori.

Inside Tokyo Station, my brother will be happy to know there is still an Ultraman shop. There is also shops for the popular television networks where you can buy character goods from the different shows. There is a store selling Studio Ghibli products. There is the Tomika store which specializes in mini cars. There was also an Avex label store (popular label for J-Pop artists) where they had outfits of the different artists on display (but taking pictures of the outfits wasn't allowed.)

Inside the Shin Marunouchi Building are shops, shops, and more shops, from the basement to the 6th floor. The floors above that are office space. The dessert shops looked pretty enticing as well as the bread buffet shop. Floors 6 and 7 are full of restaurants. The picture of the spareribs on a menu for a restaurant called "So Tired" looked so appetizing we decided to give it a taste. Unfortunately, the restaurant was only serving items off of their lunch menu and the spare ribs weren't on it. So instead, we split a pepper steak and some shouronpou (Chinese dumpling-like dish).

Monday, July 28, 2008

With the formalities of the wedding ceremony and the reception being over, next on the agenda is the nijikai. Now, this is what an American would expect at the reception. Very informal, mostly a party for friends without the parents and relatives. Ken and Yukino's nijikai was held at a place called Tamariba in Shinagawa, which started at 7:00pm and lasted for another couple of hours. The bride and groom had another change of clothes, and their was a buffet, a drink bar, and a bingo game. The prizes given away were a gift certificates for Matsuzaka Beef, a voucher for Aesthetics, and gift certificates for a course meal at Ken and Yukino's restaurant, Kitamachi Utou which is located in a place called Ushigome Kagurazaka.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

In the back (Left to Right) : Me, Tetsu, Gu-san. Front (L to R) : Nakamoto and Ken

From the left: Tetsu, Nakamoto, 21ban, Me, Mikako with Ken sitting.

Me, Nori, Mikako, and Ken

And a couple more differences between an Occidental style Japanese wedding and an American wedding. I already mentioned the cutting of the cake to be different. Other differences are some of the formalities associated with a traditional Japanese wedding. The wedding toast is the same but there is the oiro-naoshi (directly translates to "change of color" meaning a change of clothes), There is a yujin-daihyo aisastsu from a good friend (this would be like the Best Man's speech), a few words from work colleagues, a few skits from family and friends, and finally the bride will read a letter of appreciation to her parents (I can't imagine any of my American friends doing that!).

I tried posting Yukio's speech, but it appears the video clip was too long and kept causing an error on this blog so I unfortunately for Yukio, he will not be able to see himself giving his speech (on this blog anyway).

Friday, July 25, 2008

The reception was also held at Happo-En. Here is where you really see the difference between an Occidental style Japanese wedding and a real American wedding reception. I know most of my friends back in the States would associate reception with party and free booze. Although the flow of alcohol is the same, there is definitely no party atmosphere. In Japan, there will be an emcee to host the reception (no, I'm not kidding!). Family and friends will be seated at the table before the bride and groom enter. But before that, there was another photo opportunity for everybody.

Once everyone is settled at their assigned tables, the emcee will announce the bride and groom's entrance. They will be led to the main table and the groom will give a short annoucement thanking everyone for coming to celebrate their wedding. But I just had to share with you the my place setting card.

皆が座って落ち着いた時に、司会者が新郎新婦の登場をアナウスします。

Oops, my name was spelled wrong at a different wedding as well.

友達のせいじゃないですが、また自分の名前の綴りが間違えってる。

Check out the wedding cake, it's huge!

ケーキも見て、デッカイです。

Here we find the emcee introducing the newlyweds.

This is Ken giving his welcoming speech.

Next we have a picture of Ken and Yukino cutting into their wedding cake.

次の写真はケーキの入刀です。

Another difference is the cutting of the wedding cake. As you can see, this is mostly done as a formality and the cake is not eaten. And this is before the reception meal is served. In the States, we would have the meal followed by the cutting of the wedding cake. Aren't these little details interesting? I cannot guarantee if all Occidental style weddings are like this though.

If you're wondering why Ken is laughing near the end of this clip, his friend Yukio was standing near and showing Ken and his new bride a picture of Ken from his junior high school yearbook that he has uploaded into his cell phone.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

This is our friend Ken with his new bride Yuki-chan (and yes, I have his permission to post pictures of their wedding that I took.) I've known Ken for a few years but little did I know that he was also one of Mikako's childhood friends. They've known each other since the fourth grade. Ken is also good friends with Jun who is married to Mikako's sister which makes Jun my brother-in-law. Jun came to Tokyo from Aomori for Ken's wedding and stayed at our apartment for two nights.

The wedding was held at a place called Happo-En in Meguro. I learned that this place is quite popular for weddings and also saw that along with Ken and Yuki, there was about 25 other couples tying the knot on this particular Sunday. The service was to start at 11:00am in the Garden Chapel. We were meeting some friends at 9:30 and was at the wedding hall an hour early. Just before 11:00am, we were led to the Garden Chapel. Ken and Yuki's wedding was not the traditional Japanese wedding you may imagine as Yuki was dressed in a beautiful white wedding gown (and not a kimono). Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the chapel. However, this being Japan, there is a time and place for everything, including taking pictures of the bride and groom.

The ceremony started off with a Prelud, followed by the Wedding Processional. Next, Hymn 312 was sung (in Japanese of course) "What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilige to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." The priest then said a prayer from Numbers 6:24-26 "The LORD bless you and keep youy; the LORD make his face shine upon you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."

This was followed by a Message, then the Exchange of Vows, the Declaration of Marriage, the Benediction, and the Recessional.